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The
terrain on the way to Holbrook was once more breathtaking. It was
pretty much all high desert, but went from fairly flat land withjuniper to huge red mountains of rock, one named cathedral rock, then past a tourist-trap trading post, then back to flat sandy land with even larger mountain ranges in the distance. Shortly after we left Bluewater Lake, we passed a strange looking building – do you know what it is? We still haven't figured it out.
We're staying two nights at this strange little place – it is a small, old strip of motel rooms
in which the roof has fallen in and picturesque Rv sites are the parking spaces for each room.
The good news is the laundry and restrooms were clean and everything worked as it should,
so we can deal with it for two nights. It is also close to the Painted Desert-Petrified Forest,
and well within our budget, so it's a win-win situation.
The weather was clear when we arrived with blue skies but windy – probably about 20 mph. As soon as we got set up, I walked over and did our laundry. It's a good thing, too, sinceshortly after I returned the wind picked up to about 40 or 45 mph and the sky got dark
and threatening. I went outside to take some photos and could barely stand. We never
did get any rain or blowing sand, but it remained windy and threatening for several hours.
The next morning dawned clear, in the high 40's, and beautiful. We stopped at the gate and were quizzed to see if we had any petrified wood with us – apparently they have had a problem
with people taking “keepsakes” thus losing literally tons of it over the years.
What a shame. There are lots of places (even within the park) to buy petrified wood that
has been legally collected outside the park. Once we reached the Petrified Forest Visitor
Center, we went in and spoke with Guy VanBloem who was especially helpful in guiding
us to the overlooks not to miss and certain things to look for. We watched the short movie
to get a bit more insight into the park then headed out.
visual feast. There are nine overlooks and parking areas for trail heads, several of which have
stunning views of the red part of the desert. At the second overlook is the Painted Desert Inn
which is a National Historic Landmark, visitors may enjoy the murals of Fred Kabotie as well as photos from the 1930's and 1940's when the inn offered accommodations for travelers along historic Route 66.
room village built between 1250 and 1300. It is thought to have housed nearly 200 people.
A short way down the road is Newspaper Rock, aptly named because of more than 650
petroglyphs pecked into the boulders at the base of the cliff. The petroglyphs were etched
into the boulders by tapping sharpened stones onto the boulders in many different designs.
One of the designs scientists and historians seem to be in agreement about is the White-Faced Ibis with, perhaps, a frog in its beak. There are hundreds of petroglyph locations with thousands of drawings throughout the park.
At this point, we are in the Petrified Forest area and there are chunks of petrified wood strewn all over. Many of these pieces are broken up into one or two foot pieces, but at the agate bridge, there is a solid petrified log that spans a dry wash.
displays and outside is the Giant Logs Trail, where the granddaddy of them all is located –
this piece of petrified wood is 35 feet long, 10 feet in diameter and weighs an estimated
10 tons! Pick that one up and carry it out...
Our next stop is Houston Mesa, Tonto Forest, Payson, AZ.
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